vif->queues = NULL;
        vif->num_queues = 0;
 
+       spin_lock_init(&vif->lock);
+
        dev->netdev_ops = &xenvif_netdev_ops;
        dev->hw_features = NETIF_F_SG |
                NETIF_F_IP_CSUM | NETIF_F_IPV6_CSUM |
                dev_set_mtu(vif->dev, ETH_DATA_LEN);
        netdev_update_features(vif->dev);
        set_bit(VIF_STATUS_CONNECTED, &vif->status);
-       netif_carrier_on(vif->dev);
        if (netif_running(vif->dev))
                xenvif_up(vif);
        rtnl_unlock();
                disable_irq(queue->rx_irq);
        }
 
+       queue->stalled = true;
+
        task = kthread_create(xenvif_kthread_guest_rx,
                              (void *)queue, "%s-guest-rx", queue->name);
        if (IS_ERR(task)) {
 
 module_param(rx_drain_timeout_msecs, uint, 0444);
 unsigned int rx_drain_timeout_jiffies;
 
+/* The length of time before the frontend is considered unresponsive
+ * because it isn't providing Rx slots.
+ */
+static unsigned int rx_stall_timeout_msecs = 60000;
+module_param(rx_stall_timeout_msecs, uint, 0444);
+static unsigned int rx_stall_timeout_jiffies;
+
 unsigned int xenvif_max_queues;
 module_param_named(max_queues, xenvif_max_queues, uint, 0644);
 MODULE_PARM_DESC(max_queues,
                RING_IDX ring_slots_used;
                int i;
 
+               queue->last_rx_time = jiffies;
+
                /* We need a cheap worse case estimate for the number of
                 * slots we'll use.
                 */
        return err;
 }
 
+static void xenvif_queue_carrier_off(struct xenvif_queue *queue)
+{
+       struct xenvif *vif = queue->vif;
+
+       queue->stalled = true;
+
+       /* At least one queue has stalled? Disable the carrier. */
+       spin_lock(&vif->lock);
+       if (vif->stalled_queues++ == 0) {
+               netdev_info(vif->dev, "Guest Rx stalled");
+               netif_carrier_off(vif->dev);
+       }
+       spin_unlock(&vif->lock);
+}
+
+static void xenvif_queue_carrier_on(struct xenvif_queue *queue)
+{
+       struct xenvif *vif = queue->vif;
+
+       queue->last_rx_time = jiffies; /* Reset Rx stall detection. */
+       queue->stalled = false;
+
+       /* All queues are ready? Enable the carrier. */
+       spin_lock(&vif->lock);
+       if (--vif->stalled_queues == 0) {
+               netdev_info(vif->dev, "Guest Rx ready");
+               netif_carrier_on(vif->dev);
+       }
+       spin_unlock(&vif->lock);
+}
+
+static bool xenvif_rx_queue_stalled(struct xenvif_queue *queue)
+{
+       RING_IDX prod, cons;
+
+       prod = queue->rx.sring->req_prod;
+       cons = queue->rx.req_cons;
+
+       return !queue->stalled
+               && prod - cons < XEN_NETBK_RX_SLOTS_MAX
+               && time_after(jiffies,
+                             queue->last_rx_time + rx_stall_timeout_jiffies);
+}
+
+static bool xenvif_rx_queue_ready(struct xenvif_queue *queue)
+{
+       RING_IDX prod, cons;
+
+       prod = queue->rx.sring->req_prod;
+       cons = queue->rx.req_cons;
+
+       return queue->stalled
+               && prod - cons >= XEN_NETBK_RX_SLOTS_MAX;
+}
+
 static bool xenvif_have_rx_work(struct xenvif_queue *queue)
 {
        return (!skb_queue_empty(&queue->rx_queue)
                && xenvif_rx_ring_slots_available(queue, XEN_NETBK_RX_SLOTS_MAX))
+               || xenvif_rx_queue_stalled(queue)
+               || xenvif_rx_queue_ready(queue)
                || kthread_should_stop()
                || queue->vif->disabled;
 }
                if (!skb_queue_empty(&queue->rx_queue))
                        xenvif_rx_action(queue);
 
+               /* If the guest hasn't provided any Rx slots for a
+                * while it's probably not responsive, drop the
+                * carrier so packets are dropped earlier.
+                */
+               if (xenvif_rx_queue_stalled(queue))
+                       xenvif_queue_carrier_off(queue);
+               else if (xenvif_rx_queue_ready(queue))
+                       xenvif_queue_carrier_on(queue);
+
                /* Queued packets may have foreign pages from other
                 * domains.  These cannot be queued indefinitely as
                 * this would starve guests of grant refs and transmit
                goto failed_init;
 
        rx_drain_timeout_jiffies = msecs_to_jiffies(rx_drain_timeout_msecs);
+       rx_stall_timeout_jiffies = msecs_to_jiffies(rx_stall_timeout_msecs);
 
 #ifdef CONFIG_DEBUG_FS
        xen_netback_dbg_root = debugfs_create_dir("xen-netback", NULL);